Strawberry Milk [COMPLETED]

❧Chapter Five

I slowly sink into the bathtub, wincing as the hot water attacks my stinging cuts and bruises. Once my lower half is completely submerged, I let go of the sides of the tub and settle. All of the stress from the events of today come out in a long, echoing sigh.

"Geez, today was a stupid as hell..." I lift my arm and rub the back of my neck, massaging the muscles I'd strained while fighting, "I'm gonna hurt in the mornin'."

As I close my eyes, the face of Hajime appears as clear as day. I can feel my cheeks growing warm as my lips spread into a smile at the mere thought of him. The polished shoes, the clean uniform, the gorgeous eyes, the heart meltingly sweet voice, the soft, glowing hair...He was unreal and yet so touchable.

"He's more a prince than that stupid Kenta could ever be..." I sink further into the water until my chin is just barely touching the surface, my thoughts clouding as my chest fires up like a furnace in anger. Tears sting my eyes for a brevity of a second before I start to think of Hajime all over again. The anger melts away like I'd placed it in the bathtub with me and I'm back to grinning silly in seconds.

I'll be in real trouble if I fall for him.

🍓

"So what did you two wanna talk to me about?" I dug into my meal, humming as I downed all of the food. It felt good to have a meal after a fight!

Chisame cleared her throat to get my father's attention and he looked up at her from behind his glasses, surprised. He finished chewing his food and squinted, clearly surprised that she was giving him the mic. Especially since she usually loves to ramble about things.

"When, well..." my father made a face, his eyes darting left and right. He didn't know how to say it, whatever it was, and judging by the way he thrummed his fingers on the table, he was nervous about my reaction. "Ichigo. Chisame is moving us into a new house in a better area, and we're enrolling you into a better school."

BAM!

My father and Chisame both jumped when I slammed my fists down on the table, enraged, "Are you kidding me? Where was I when you decided on all this!"

"Young lady! We're at the dinner table! We do NOT use our fists." Chisame said through gritted teeth on the other end of the table. I shot her a defiant glare.

"Stop using your money on us, we don't need the charity!"

"Ichigo! You know that's not what I'm doing--"

"How is it not? Ever since you married my dad all you've been doing is trying to polish us up or something! We don't need all that extra stuff!"

Ugh! I was so irritated at her! It never failed. She wants me to wear all these frilly girl clothes, she wants me to start brushing my hair, she wants me to stop getting into fights with boys, she wants my dad to make appearances at her charity balls, she wants him to dress up, she wants him to cut his hair and shave his beard! Well we're not into all that materialistic crap, we never were!

My mother never cared about any of that stuff. Why did my father feel the need to always go with what Chisame said?!

"Honey, I've never tried to shove my wealth in your face. As apart of this family, I've just wanted to help. That's all!" Chisame says back, but I can tell she's holding back her frustrations with me. I could read people like that.

My father puts his hand on my shoulder, "It'll be good for you, Ichigo. You'll make a lot of great friends...friends who are going places and have a great future ahead of them. And we'll have a wonderful house with lots of great space...we'll have lots of room for--"

"Kids, right! You guys are trying to have a baby!" I looked over at Chisame down the table, and judging by her silence I knew that wasn't all.

Chisame turned red and cleared her throat again, rubbing at her thighs and avoiding my gaze as much as possible. My father went quiet and awkward just the same.

"What is it?" I folded my arms over my chest and waited.

"I'm pregnant, Ichigo." Chisame sighed, and I looked back and forth between them, letting out a sigh of my own.

"So that's it? Why didn't you just say that!"

"We never know how you're going to react to things!"

"I've always wanted a brother or sister, how could I be upset about -- that's not the point! The point is, I don't wanna move! Or change schools! And you can't make me!"

"We'll see about that, young lady!"

I slammed my hands on the table, kicked my chair out from behind me and ran the other way to go lock myself in my bedroom. Yeah, it was a pretty girly thing to do, but I couldn't help it. The only way those two would listen to me was if I did something crazy like...like go on a hunger strike!